Aeverlest: Legend of the Crystal Flames

Aali wasn't paying a huge amount of attention on Trucido as she fought but she could see the arrows being blown away from his face and the men backing up with every step he took, obviously they were no match for him. She couldn't spare him much of a glance however as a couple armed men rushed at her. Rather than waiting for them to reach her she jumped up and flipped landing on the back of one and knocking him to the ground. Her sword clashed with the other man's sword and his eyes grew wide with surprise at the force of her blow. Swinging her sword above her head she hit the first man in the head creating a huge bloody gash. Sword met sword again, but he was no match for her skill and in a few short seconds both men were down.

"Fools!" With a start Aali looked over just as the dragon vanished. The men stared dumbstruck around them, with no idea where Trucido had gone. Taking advantage of their suprise Aali struck the men nearest her and a small battle was soon engaged between them. Beyond them men were being crushed under Trucido's invisable body, and Aali thanked her lucky stars again that they were on the same side.

"You"

As the men she had been fighting fell to the ground infront of her, Aali saw the woman she had tried to fight before, the one who had paralyzed her. Pure adrenaline and fury began to flow through her veins. This time, she was going down. Slicing her way through the remaining men she forced her way towards the woman. As she reached her the woman eyed her with an amused look.

"You!"

They both turned to see a brilliant balst of green fire hit the spot where the leader had been. Without a second's hesitation Aali had her sword at her adversaries neck.

 

The dragon roared as it reared up and released a surging blast of green fire upon the place where the man stood.

The leader attempted to dodge, but was struck by the side of the flame and knocked to the ground. Almost immediately he was back on his feet, certainly injured but not near to the degree he should have been. He grinned and brandished his forearm at the dragon.

"Recognize these?" he asked, pointing to his bracers. "Useful, aren't they? I'm not sure if they belonged to you or that other pine-ear, but they're mine now. Not that I need them against a coward like you.

"Yes, a coward! Any man, human or lesser, who will not fight another man face-to-face, sword in hand is a coward! Any man who hides behind sorceries and enchantments and giant scaly hides is a coward! Any..."

A blinding light. The ring of white noise. Clouded mind.

In the moment of distraction, the brigand had rushed in and embedded his sword in Trucido's side. Grabbing another from a fallen minion, he swung up his sword onto the dragon's back, avoiding Trucido's counterattack. "You lose, piney." He swung the sword at his neck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Without a second's hesitation Aali had her sword at her adversaries neck.

The woman gracefully slid under the attack, slicing into Aali's ribcage as she did so. She ended the motion with a kick, pushing Aali back, giving herself some distance, then swung her arms inward and out in a slashing motion. Two streaks of yellow aether roared towards Aali.

 

Aali gasped with pain as he sword sliced through her body. She could feel warm blood beginning to soak her skin. Before she could react the woman had kicked her stomach, sending her reeling backwards and gasping for air. With a fluid motiong she sent yellow fire streaking towards Aali. Clutching her hand to her wound, Aali ducked under the flame and moved toward the woman in one movement. Weilding her sword with only one hand now, she struck the woman's leg and pulled the sword, successfully causing her to overbalance and flip.

 

Morius stood in place as soon as the dragon was revealed. To be honest, he was kind of expecting this to happen; he had come across the Wyrdrakkus through many studies of black fire and ancient Alfar history. There was so much wind, so much lightning, so much noise. Aali ran forward to steel herself, and Morius yelled after her, "Don't move! He won't recognise you - he's not on anyone's side!" But she had not heard him, and a battle ensued.

Trucido had told them to look after Scarlet, but everyone was either unconscious, unfit, or in the case of Prince Remulos it seemed, scared ****less. Morius considered disappearing into the shadows himself and moving to safety, but alas, that was not an option. Why must I do everything?!

He was quickly by Scarlet's side, picking her up in his arms. "Everybody else - MOVE!" Morius ordered.

They disappeared in a pile of black goop, sliding through the shadows of the night, away from the camp and further into the woods. The lightning had intensified, and there was audible screaming - screams of pain, and of commanding authority. When Morius and Scarlet re-materialised, he set her against a tree, and glanced back at the battle. Trucido, now in dragon form, was fighting the leader of the bandits, who was managing to dodge his strikes and spells.

Morius carefully waved his hands around Scarlet, the dark energy in his palms creating intricate designs in the air. A black tinted-glass cube was conjured around her, which faded to invisibility in a matter of seconds. Now that she was safe, as Trucido had wished, Morius decided to move back towards the battle. He didn't know why he saved Scarlet; maybe he thought he owed something to Trucido for setting them free. No, he told himself, it was because there was no one else to do it, and he did offer his protection upon joining the party.

He now stood at the edge of the woods, the full encampment in view. There was a blinding light, and Trucido became disoriented, open to an attack. He was stabbed, and the leader came at him again. But, Morius had seen the source of magic - Lynne stood by one of the tents, still chained up, and facing the Dragon, waving her staff and undoubtedly aiding her master. Morius transformed again into his semi-liquid form, splashing forwards at incredible speed, and materialising right behind the young girl. He held his hand on her shoulder, and she began to glow with a black light, unable to move. Morius looked at the leader, the liquid from his eyes surging uncontrollably and enveloping itself around Lynne's neck, her face, her body, like constricting vines.

"How much do you value your white mage?" His voice echoed impossibly throughout the camp, audible amidst all the chaos, and directed at the leader.

 

A swirl of wind and the loud crash of lightening awoke Rainin, snapping him back to consciousness.

The cold voice of the dark elf called out "Don't move! He won't recognise you - he's not on anyone's side!"

Rainin looked above to see the towering form of the green dragon.

What in the flame's was going on! Glancing around he saw most of his party either still unconscious or taking cover while the Dragon began its rampage. Aali ran ahead into battle.

The dragon attacked the bandits with ferocity before vanishing from sight. Aali seemed to believe that the dragon was on their side, but where was Trucido? Could the green dragon and the green elf... No, that couldn't be.

"Everybody else - MOVE!"

Morious disappeared with an unconscious and bound red haired woman whom Rainin presumed to be Scarlet

Just then something came flying through the raging windstorm and struck Rainin on the shoulder. When he reached down to touch it it crackled with a slight white flame. Immediately, Rainin felt his strength begin to return like warm light flowing up his arm and through his body. The restoration was not complete but it was enough to help him escape. Along with his strength returned the memory of the prior battle and the white flame that had saved him.

His staff! His staff had returned. Or, half of it anyways.

Rainin quickly rose to his feet and grabbed the nearest fallen comrade.

"Come on!" he shouted at Neil, and the stranger that stood beside him.

As quickly as he could he began helping the others to the safety of the treeline. There they found a large boulder behind which they could be shielded from the dragon's wrath.

Aali and Morious were not discernable amongst the chaos of the battle. But a lone figure began to make its way stealthily out of the fray and directely toward them. It carried something in its hands and seemed to be muttering over it. A flash of green lightening revealed the face of the unknown scorpion, and the precious map which it held.

Without a thought Rainin darted from hiding and charged at the villian.

"HAND OVER THAT MAP!"

 

"You lose, piney."
"How much do you value your white mage?"

Again. The man had used the trick again. But it wasn't going to work this time. Not again.

The brigand was distracted for just an instant, hardly a moment, but it was enough to strike back. Trucido flexed his wing out, knocking the attacker off of his back. Before the man even had a chance to recover, even role onto his side, Trucido pinned him down with a clawed foot.

Coward? You hide behind armor and a sword, behind the sword and armor of your allies, behind the magic of your allies. I stand here, in my own form. This is no spell, this is what I am. My flame belongs to my body, as does my tooth and claw. You are the coward! Hiding behind the tools of man!

With a push Trucido snapped the man's limbs under his talons.

Scream Coward. Scream!

With roar, a vicious roar, a bone shattering, blood chilling roar, Trucido dug down into the man's flesh.

And it was wonderful.

 

Well, that was easier said than done...

Morius immediately released his hold on Lynne's shoulder, who collapsed to her knees before him weakly. His trance suddenly ended, and all the pain and tiredness came back to him; the throbbing of the tatoos, the numbness of his left arm, and he could hardly combat it. He felt as if he was going to faint, and he would've, but there was one problem - the dragon was looking straight at them.

Lynne turned to see her assailant, and her eyes widened in disbelief. "M?" she asked him.

Morius didn't meet her gaze, he was staring Trucido in the eyes, it seemed to be the only thing holding the dragon at bay. He carefully knelt down to Lynne's level, and slid his hand around her shackles, applying the little energy he had left to disintegrate the bindings.

"Run." he told her, his eyes still locked with Trucido's, and she did.

 

The flash. The light. The dizziness. The confusion.

This was the mage who had attacked him twice now. Attacked him and his comrades. Spells of confusion. Cowardly spells. A coward. An ally of a coward.

Prey.

A familiar man stood next to her, he recognized the man, but it didn't matter who he was. Only the prey mattered.

With a roar and a crackle of green fire the dragon sped towards his new prey. For it's size, the dragon moved at incredible speeds. It could have been there in an instant, but that wouldn't have been much of a hunt.

 

Weilding her sword with only one hand now, she struck the woman's leg and pulled the sword, successfully causing her to overbalance and flip.

Gracefully, the sorceress landed upon her palms and flipped upright onto her good leg, stemming the blood on the wounded one with a quick burst of yellow fire. She attempted to send out another burst of flame at Aali with more dancing motions, but when she placed her weight upon the wounded leg she gasped in pain and faltered, sending the yellow fireball careening haphazardly to the side. The woman clutched her leg and scowled. "This isn't over," she sneered, leaping off her good leg into the trees.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Without a thought Rainin darted from hiding and charged at the villian.

"HAND OVER THAT MAP!"

The scorpion threw off his cloak and reared to his full height, revealing a massive tail daggered on the end by a vicious stinger, which it stabbed at Rainin.

 

Lynne had barely moved and the dragon was almost upon them. A darkness was clouding Morius' peripheries and everything suddenly seemed like a bad dream. He next knew he was moving, but didn't feel it, and soon found himself standing in between Lynne and Trucido. He threw his hands at the air, and a transparent wall appeared, much like the cube he had conjured around Scarlet in the woods. It faded to invisibility, and Morius collapsed to his knees, his whole body ached. The beast was before him in all its glory, and he blacked out...

 

"This isn't over,"
Aali watched the girl leap gracefully into the trees even with an injured leg. Without a moment's hesitation she picked up a dagger lying on the ground next to her and threw it with uncanny skill and precision into the trees. She heard a muffled grunt of pain as it hit the woman, however a slight rustling in the leaves told her that she hadn't managed to cuz any major injury. With a metallic thud the bloody dagger was dropped to the ground and the branches quivered as the woman move on.

With her adversary gone, the adrenaline that had been pumping through her veins disapeared and Aali felt drained. The full pain of the gash in her side hit her then. The hand on her ribs was drenched in scarlet blood, and the second she looked down at it her head began to spin. She hadn't realized just how much blood she had lost; she had been so caught up in the fight, but now she could see her vision clouding and her body becoming weak and uncoordinated. She staggered a few steps forward, her sword becoming to heavy to hold as it dropped to the ground. A step further and she fell over, too dizzy and weak to move.

 

What was this? What kind of joke was this? Some fool dared to interfere with interfere with his hunt?! Unacceptable!

With a flick of its massive claw, the dragon swiped the fool out of his way. Ordinarily, it would have killed most any mortal. Luckily for Morius, the shield that he had conjured just a moment before absorbed most of the damage. Of course, the attack was still powerful enough to smash through the barrier, throw the mage aside, and break a few ribs in the process. Of course, the dragon didn't know this. It merely assumed the fool had been killed.

When it re focused its attention on its prey, it found a disturbing sight. Nothing. The mage had vanished. Disappeared. Gone. His prey had managed to escape. The dragon bellowed in rage after the escaping mage, he would follow her, but then the other prey would escape. He couldn't lose the rest of his prey just for her. So he turned back to the encampment to search for more prey.

 

The scorpion threw off his cloak and reared to his full height, revealing a massive tail daggered on the end by a vicious stinger, which it stabbed at Rainin.

A scorpion poised for battle was a fearsome sight. Where was Alaz when you needed him?

Rainin leapt aside from the stinger and swung his half-staff at his opponent hopeing for a burst of white flame. The stick moved with unnatural fluidity and speed, but disapointed Rainin by producing no such magic.

Kizalk was fast and formidable, but seemed to be reserving any magic he posessed. While ducking and dodging Rainin's staff some how managed to block every one of the incessent stabs from the deadly stinger. Rainin knew that the only way to fight an enemy with such long range was to move in close. Deadly close.

He readied an spell he had used recently before and hid the flame behind his back as it enveloped his hand. The scorpion struck again. Rainin dodged to the side and moved in, gripping the dangerous tail as it passed. The icy blue flame in his hand passed into the long serrated stinger as Rainin quickly continued forward, spinning to elbow his opponent with his free arm.

Pulling the tail forward he felt the stunned scorpion collide against his back. Only a strong blade could pierce the tough shell of the desert men, and Rainin had no such blade. But he would soon have something honed by nature herself for just such a purpose.

In a swift motion Rainin struck the frozed tip of the scorpion's tail with his staff, easily breaking the frozen brittle exoskeleton. Spinning around he thrust the severed stinger at what he hoped would be the heart of the scorpion.

 

Neil swore. Things had gone from bad to worse. Sure, they had gotten out of that basement somehow -- even now he wasn't quite sure how that had happened -- but now there was a dragon running around, attacking everyone indiscriminately. Already it had taken out a few of their own: Morius, Aali, and Scarlet were down, and Zeb, Alaz, and Trucido were missing, probably injured as well. Fortunately, it seemed focused for the moment on the few bandits who remained; most were dead or deserted by now. Best to act before it decided to attack the party again...

Scarlet and Morius were in the relative safety of the edge of the wood while Aali was closer to the actual melee, so she would have to be first. He ran over to her and checked her for large wounds. There was a large one on her side, so he did his best to hastily bind it with a shredded piece of his shirt. He tried to pick her up...no, that was definitely not happening with that broken arm. He would have to drag her.

He managed to make it back to the boulder without being noticed by the dragon. Noticing the man they met in the cellar sitting nearby, he grabbed him by his collar. "You! Prince or whatever! You said something about knowing healing, so do what you can for her! I'm going to get the others!"

 

Lynne ran as fast as she could. She didn't know where she was going, but he had told her to run. Morius - was it really him? She could barely recognise him anymore, he had become nothing but a distance memory, a dream, her savior... no, he had abandoned her! But, she couldn't help and think of what happened to him; he intervened with the dragon - where did the dragon come from?! Lynne trudged through more bushes, and suddenly stopped in her tracks.

Before her lay a girl, against a tree. She knew the girl. She had seen them bring her in, strip her naked, and clothe her in those magic restricting robes and shackles. The girl looked so peaceful, and was asleep; she looked weak and vulnerable! Lynne stepped towards her, when suddenly her body was enveloped with an inconceivable coldness. She could barely move, and felt herself getting weaker. Lynne stepped back, and the cold dissipated - but its siphoning effects still lasted. She dropped to her knees, eyes on the girl who was trapped inside the invisible forcefield.

A barrier, she thought to herself, only the one who cast it may undo it! It was a dark sort of magic, and instantly she made the connection. Morius. She looked back towards the camp, which was alight with masses of green fire and lightning.

 

In a swift motion Rainin struck the frozed tip of the scorpion's tail with his staff, easily breaking the frozen brittle exoskeleton. Spinning around he thrust the severed stinger at what he hoped would be the heart of the scorpion.

The scorpion hissed and staggered back, with one hand plugging his cloak in the wound from which black blood oozed, with the other holding up a crumpled scrap of parchment. "Fine," it snarled. "You want the map? Try to catch it!" It hurled it toward the bonfire and scampered in the opposite direction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Neil quickly located Morius and managed with some effort to drag him back to the others, then left to search for Scarlet. He eventually found her deeper in the forest, lying against a tree. Standing over her was a young woman he didn't recognize. Clumsily, he drew his sword with his good hand. "Hey, you! What do you think you're doing?"

 

"Hey, you! What do you think you're doing?"

Lynne jerked her head towards the direction of the voice. Still on her knees, she saw the man before her, clad in leather, and with a broken arm. A bandit! Her eyes widened, but this would be no problem.

She stood up, noticing instantly to what extent her reactions had been slowed due to the barrier. Thrusting her staff forward, she pointed it directly at the man, and issued the word, "Shah!"

A slash of white fire ran itself across his chest, knocking him backward and off his feet. Without knowing exactly how much damage she had inflicted, Lynne took this opportunity to make a run for it. She made her way through the brush, back to the camp, she had to get back to Morius.

As she reached the clearing, there was a deafening roar and the ground shook, throwing her off balance. She staggered and fell on her right side, fumbling her staff. She looked up, and from here could see a tiny refuge of people behind the trees. They did not look like bandits, and one of them, a boy, had surely been a prisoner. Then she saw him. Morius lay on the ground, unconscious. Quickly grabbing her staff, she jumped up, and ran in their direction.

She knelt beside Morius, shaking him. "M? M? Come on, wake up!" But her efforts were to no avail. She placed her hands on his chest and found that he was still breathing - only faintly, but at least he was alive. She quickly turned her attention to the surroundings. There were a couple of other injured people, and the prisoner boy looked completely perplexed at the situation. She remembered his school of fire was white, and immediately snapped at him, "Hey you! Help me heal these people!"

 

"Hey you! Help me heal these people!"
Antice stared at the girl who was calling him. He had forgotten he had never gave them a proper introduction of himself, or maybe he did. He forgot a little about it and walked over to the girl. He stared around at the injured. He felt his face sorta go hot.
He had never performed a healing act right in front of other people. Other then the one he was searching before. It was the only thing this young prince seemed to be embarrassed by.
"Where do you want me to start?" he asked calmly.

 

"Where do you want me to start?" he asked calmly.

Lynne let out an annoyed groan - they had no time for this! She quickly turned to look at a girl who lay in close proximity. A mediocre bandage, made from ripped cloth, was tied around a large wound on her side, blood soaked through heavily. Blood had always made Lynne nauseous.

"That one!" She ordered the boy.

Now she turned her attention back to Morius, and rolled up her sleeves. She once again placed her hands on his chest, feeling it rise gently, fall, and then repeat again. She closed her eyes.

"Helbrede vind dache," Lynne chanted, and her hair was slowly uplifted by a non-existent wind. Her palms on Morius' chest began to glow with a bright, white light - it shone dazzlingly through her fingers. Suddenly, Morius' body jumped upward, as if it were charged with electricity, and the ground below shook, raising a cloud of dust.

Lynne fell backward, and sat on the bare dirt, exhausted and breathing heavily. After a few seconds, Morius jumped up, and turned to spit blood. He then faced her - the blood around his mouth looked black in the darkness, but his silver eyes glistened in the light of the moon.

"Lynne," he uttered, attempting to smile.

 

"Shah!"

With a blast of white fire, Neil found himself knocked to the ground. It didn't really hurt, stung more than anything, but it did give the girl a chance to run off. But that didn't matter, the important thing was getting the group together and to safety.

He walked up to Scarlet, intending to drag her back to the group as he had the others, but as he did so he felt the life being sapped from his body. It's some sort of magical trap, he realized, and it was killing Scarlet! He had to get her out of there immediately!

He took a deep breath and ran forward, grabbed Scarlet's leg, and...okay, this was not the best idea. He was barely strong enough to move her. No, barely strong enough to stand. Barely strong enough to...

He collapsed to the ground. No, this was not a good idea at all. He had to get out...too weak....had to crawl......had to get her out.........no strength............. should.....have........ thought..........this............ through..........................................

 

Antice was directed towards a girl with a unpleasant none helpful bandage covering a wound. Antice had to focus on this though. It was different working on non royal people. The royal people ordered him to do or said because they share the same power he had to. This was different he was doing this for kindness sakes. Then again someone had to ask him to do it. He bit his lip and then stared at the girl. He had to focus hard on the wound coming together. Together, together, together.
"I ask upon the spirits who breathe life, to heal this wound," Antice began to chant as some gold like wispy magic began to form around the wound, "Heal the wound with your breathe of life and place your hands on hers so that way her life will always be safe with your protection."
Antice saw the wound begin to close up and the girl was healed. He stared at the girl who had originally order him to heal people.
"I am finish this one," he said calmly.

 

(I am deleting my posts but i dont know how so im just editing them to this message, sorry if this is distracting)

 

(I am deleting my posts but i dont know how so im just editing them to this message, sorry if this is distracting)

 

"Fine," it snarled. "You want the map? Try to catch it!" It hurled it toward the bonfire and scampered in the opposite direction.

A green burst of light again illuminated the scene as the dragons rampage led it further into the woods after the escaping bandits. Rainin's heart sank as the only direction in this mis-guided mission soared directly at the flames. As he watched the broken half-staff in his hand tingled with energy, and Rainin trusted it without hesitation.

Throwing the staff with all his might after the parchment Rainin watched and wondered if the magic staff would come through. To his amazement, it did. The staff flew straght as a javelin overshooting the crumpled paper, but tipped suddenly downward connecting with the map as it plummeted to the ground. The staff stuck upright in the ground pinning the precious map beneath it only feet in front of the fire.

Rainin turned to see Kizalk's sinister shadow escaping through the woods. So much for the scorpion-clan, he thought.

Running back to the bonfire to retrieve the map he could see white fire pulsing and crackling irregularly from theverticle staff. As he picked it up a complementary pulse coming from the bonfire caught his eye.

The other half of the his staff!! There atop the pile of burning wood sat the counterpart to the staff he now held in his hand pulsing in synchrony with white flame amidst the fire. Putting the dirtied, but undamaged map, in his pocket he used the tip of the staff he had to flip the second peice out of the flames. It was instantly cool to the touch and the white fire immediately extinguished from both. Rainin carried both pieces with him as he made his way back to the boulder.

Along the way back Rainin encountered a nearly demolished hut, from the wreckage of which the familiar hilt of Aali's new sword gleamed in the light of the bonfire. Collecting as much of his teams goods and weaponry as he could carry he doubled his pace back to the boulder.

There he found most of the group reunited and enlarged by the addition a young man and a girl both of whom seemed busy healing the injured.

"Is everyone accounted for?"

 

Strange images flashed through Scarlet's head as she slept. Flashes of green, roaring lightning, something else roaring. Something big, something dangerous. But it was familiar... Scarlet didn't know how though.

More green, yelling screaming, something red. Blood? Something was happening.

An incredibly loud roar jolted Scarlet awake. What was going on? She was still in the magic sealing robe, but she wasn't trapped anymore. She was propped up against a tree. The sounds of fighting and dying were everywhere. Blood curdling screams, massive roars, thunder and lightning. What was going on?

A young man was lying down in front of Scarlet, he was familiar, he was from the group. What was he doing lying down? Scarlet stood, silently shattering the barrier surrounding her.

"What are you doing lying down? What's going on?"